The White House confirmed that US President Joe Biden has waived tariffs on solar panels from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam for two years and invoked the Defense Production Act to boost critical supplies to American solar manufacturers.

The move by Biden is in response to complaints from American clean energy producers that the local solar sector’s growth is being paralysed by supply chain issues due to a Commerce Department inquiry into possible trade violations involving Southeast Asian products. By invoking the Defense Production Act, Biden has put the full force of his federal government behind America’s clean energy producers to drive the local manufacturing of solar panels and other clean energy technologies. The Act gives the federal government authority to direct private companies to produce sufficient goods (with the support of government loans and grants) during a national emergency.  Biden’s announcement has provided a level of certainty for the American clean energy industry and has been viewed as an appropriate step toward his administration’s efforts to fight climate change. As a result, existing solar jobs are likely to be protected, there is potential for increased employment in the American solar industry and the tools are in place to build a robust solar manufacturing base that is not reliant on importing critical supplies.

The Defense Production Act will also be used to expand the manufacturing of building insulation, heat pumps, critical power grid infrastructure like transformers, and equipment for making and using “clean electricity-generated fuels” such as electrolysers, fuel cells and related platinum group metals.